


"Better Hands"

by WritingWithADinosaur



Series: "Better Hands" [1]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 06:18:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17074985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingWithADinosaur/pseuds/WritingWithADinosaur
Summary: After being in an abusive relationship, you have been able to turn your life around thanks to the help of the team. But when you have to go back to your ex for some of your things, some shit goes down.





	1. "Better Hands" - Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Leonard “Bones” McCoy x Reader
> 
> Key: Y/N = Your Name, L/N = Your Last Name, H/C = Your Hair Color, E/C = Your Eye Color
> 
> Warnings - Heavy Abuse, Cursing, Talk of Injuries

It’s been about 3 years since you joined the Enterprise. Starting with an abusive boyfriend and a low ranked job in engineering, it was easy to think you would never really be good enough to be an important member. But you proved yourself wrong.

Within a few months of joining, Scotty saw potential in you and began to mentor you more. Through this, you two became very close friends. You were able to be yourself around him at work. This being said, you never told him about the abuse your boyfriend delivered. You had mentioned a few things that sort of raised red flags to Scotty, but you told him it was nothing and you two moved on.

It wasn’t until you came into work one day with a “sore chest” and slightly limping that he found out how bad the abuse was. You hadn’t been thinking and decided to roll your sleeves up while you and Scotty worked on one of the many pipes around the ship. He saw a huge dark blob out of the corner of his eye, turned to look, and was mortified. Your whole left arm was covered in bruises and there was a nasty one growing on your right arm.

He asked about them and there was no turning back now. You told him about your boyfriend and how he took out his anger on you some nights. And sometimes he would just place blame on you or manipulate you in ways you didn’t think of. From that moment on, Scotty became an older brother and helped you through everything. Cutting this asshole from your life, starting over, and creating a better life for yourself.

After hearing your story, he asked if he could report this to the Captain. You nodded in agreement. He went to hug you, but as soon as he put a little pressure around your torso, you were writhing in pain. Scotty decided to end work for today and to take you to the medbay.

There, you met the infamous Leonard McCoy, and found out that you had a fractured rib and wrist as well as a sprained shoulder. As Leonard began to wrap you up, the Captain came in. You attempted to straighten up, but fell back in pain. Leonard gave you an injection for pain relief and you were thankful. You then began to listen to the Captain about how your now ex-boyfriend has been demoted and will be facing consequences. He also informed you that he, Leonard, Scotty, and Uhura will be personally helping you grow from this.

You were overjoyed, relieved, and so thankful. Tears flowed as you hugged the Captain and began your new path of life.

And here you are today. You are now as skilled as Scotty and act as his equal. Whenever there was a mission where he was needed, you always came with. You were best friends with James and Uhura was that girlfriend that you could go to for help. Leonard McCoy however, is a different story.

After he wrapped your ribs and wrist up, Leonard and you began talking. After about 6 months after your breakup with the douchebag, you acted on some feelings you had for the doctor. He gladly reciprocated and agreed to take things at your pace. And you’ve been happy ever since then. Almost a year later, and you two were still as in love as the first time your two kissed.

You could finally say that you were content with your life. That is, until you realized that your ex still had some of your stuff. You needed to get it back, but didn’t want to involve anyone else. You were stronger now. You could handle this.

Walking to the lair of the asshole was surprisingly okay. You felt like you could stand up to him. You know knew the severity of your past and how awful it truly was. You wanted to knock on his door and say “ _Fuck you!_ Give me my shit back and then go fuck yourself with a cactus!” But as soon as he opened the door, you couldn’t bring yourself to say any of that.

You knew he was toxic. You knew you couldn’t even be acquaintances with him. But there was some sliver of goodness in you that wanted to forgive him. So you tried your best to be civil.

“Hey, Tim. I don’t mean to be a bother, I just realized that some of my stuff is still here and I wanted it back.” He seemed surprisingly okay.

“Come on in. I’ll grab the box it’s all in.” He went into his room as you stood awkwardly in the center of the living room and waited. He came back and put the box on the table before trying to start conversation.

“So, how’ve you been?”

“I’m doing very well actually. Worked my way up and now I’m one of the head engineers with Scotty. What about you?”

“Well, I’m now another one of the many replaceable people on the ship. Basically an assistant to an assistant communications officer. No girl will talk to me more than they have to, and I get shit for the other guys still, even though I’m now in special classes to deal with my anger.” He was incredibly bitter. It wasn’t in his voice, but you knew him well enough to know when he was upset. There was an awkward pause before you tried to reach for the box and head out.

“Well, it’s getting late and I really need to head back–” You were cut off by his voice booming with a mix of anger and pain, as well as his hand grabbing your wrist. You tried to pull yourself out of his grasp, but he was too strong. Fear began to bubble inside of you. _No. This can **not** be happening again. _

“Scotty your boyfriend or somethin’?” You kind of scoff at that. _The fuckin’ nerve of this jerk to ask about more personal stuff._

“No. He’s like a brother to me.” You hesitated for a second before blurting the next part out. “I do have a boyfriend though. He’s a doctor. Been helping me get my life together.”

Apparently Tim didn’t like that you had moved on and became better than him. He just kept looking at the floor as if he were thinking.

Before you could get a word in, his hand came whipping against your cheek. You stumbled backwards and fell to the floor. This began a string of expletives and a situation you never thought you’d be in again. You tried to stand up and escape, but his strong grasp met your shoulders and pulled you back to the ground.

He kicked your stomach so you would stay down long enough for him to really let his anger flow through him and out on you. He kept hitting you. He focused mostly on your arms and torso. This time, he ended up using his nails, causing a few larger gashes to be spread out across your body. You tried to call out for help, but he covered your mouth before going back to beating you and calling you names.

He was too strong for you to punch anywhere and do any damage. You had flashbacks to when you would try to fight back when you were still together with him. That usually made him hit harder and say that you were being an awful girlfriend by not agreeing with him or some bullshit.

But then you realized he was vulnerable. His hand was over your mouth. You opened a bit wider so you could get a part of his hand in your mouth and bit down as hard as you could manage. Your body was working on instinct and apparently caused you to bite so hard that he started bleeding.

As soon as he fell off of you, you kicked him in the groin as hard as you could, grabbed your box and sprinted to the elevator that would take you back to your quarters. You could hear him writhing in pain and screaming “You fuckin bitch! You’ll regret this shit! You know you fucking will!” as the elevator doors closed.

The elevator ride seemed to take longer than usual. At least there was no one else with you. No one in the hallways either. So you didn’t have to worry about conversing or anything. As soon as you made it to your room, you fumbled with the keypad and just about ran in.

You hadn’t started crying until you got back in your room safe. You locked every door possible and just sat and cried it all out. The communicator in your bag began to ring and you figured it was Leonard but couldn’t let him hear you like this.

_He’ll be mad at you if he finds out you went to deal with Tim alone. If he sees you this beat up, he’ll think you’re weak and should have gotten help. He’ll be annoyed that he has to take care of you. You’re such a nuisance. Lenny will be upset._

While the communicator rang, you tried to calm yourself down enough to talk normally. You reached for it, saw that you had a missed call from Leonard, and called him back.

“(Y/N)?! You okay?!” You could hear how worried he was. You always answered his calls on the first couple of rings. So when you didn’t pick up at all, he thought something happened to you.

Something did, but you _couldn’t_ tell him.

“Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. I was in the bathroom. Had something funny at lunch today and I guess it didn’t settle right in my stomach.” You could hear him get up from his office chair and start to pack his things up. You could already assume what he was going to say next.

“I’ll come over and take a look.” You panicked. You didn’t want to deal with his protectiveness or try to hide how much pain you were in. You really wanted to be alone.

“ _No! Please._ I’m fine. It’s something that’ll pass, I know it is. I just want to be alone and call it an early night. You focus on your work and I’ll see you tomorrow at lunch. Okay?” His end was silent for a second or two, until he agreed. He knew something was up, but also knew better than to push you.

“Alright, darlin’. Just be careful, drink water, and call me if anything gets worse. You know, lightheadedness, intense headaches, blood. Anything.” At the mention of blood, you looked in the mirror to see that your shirt had large patches of blood seeped through it. You gasped and began to try to inspect the wounds.

 

“(Y/N)?! What happened?” You thought your gasp was internal, but apparently it had been audible to a certain very worried boyfriend. You had to think of something.

“Nothing! I just… forgot the soup I had on the stove. I gotta go before it burns. I love you. Goodnight!” You felt awful lying to him, but you couldn’t tell him the truth. Not right now. And he would understand, wouldn’t he?

“Love you too, sweetheart. Rest up and keep me updated.” And with that, you clicked your communicator off, tossing it on your bed.

Deciding to try to escape in a shower, you tried to take off your uniform only to struggle due to all of the cuts and sharp pains all over your body. When you finally do get your shirt off, you see large gashes along your upper arms and one very long one running from your shoulder and down your spine. There were already bruises forming on almost every limb. You were thankful Tim hadn’t hit your face any harder or else you would have a black eye. At least now these injuries won’t be visible.

The last thing you need is for people to get worked up and think Leonard did this. And you really didn’t want to explain yourself either.

You slowly got in the shower and instantly had to sit on the floor. The pain was almost unbearable. The water hitting your wounds was like no pain you have felt before. If you hadn’t sat down, you were sure you’d have fainted.

As you sat there with the water running over your body, you just let it all out. You cried because of the pain you were in. Because of your stupidity for thinking that you could be civil with someone like Tim. Because of your cowardliness for not telling Leonard about what happened. It was all so much. You just let the water wash over you, seeing the water turn red as it flushed out the scratches.

You didn’t know how much time had passed, but you somehow managed to get out of the shower and get into very loose night clothes. Dating a doctor had its perks. One of which being that you had a very extensive first aid kit in your room. So you were easily able to find plenty of gauze and bandages to do a decent job.

Another perk of dating a doctor was that you had a lot of medicines and supplements for almost any ailment. You took some medicine that was supposed to help with sleeping because, knowing yourself, there was no way you could fall asleep on your own tonight.

Laying in bed proved to be insanely difficult. As you got as comfortable as you were gonna get, your mind began to go into hyperdrive.

_How the fuck are you going to go to work and be “normal” tomorrow? You need to tell someone about what happened. James needs to know that Tim got out of line and needs to be punished again. And Leonard needs to know. What if something serious happened inside you that you can’t tell? And he’s your boyfriend for christ sake! You need to tell him!_

_But if you tell him or anyone, they’ll get upset. “We thought you were stronger than this, (Y/N).” or “ Why were you so stupid and go alone? Why didn’t you tell anyone?_ ”

You felt the medicine start working and your eyelids got heavier and heavier until you finally found the comfortable type of darkness that provided rest.

You’ll figure out tomorrow when tomorrow comes.


	2. "Better Hands" - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being in an abusive relationship, you have been able to turn your life around thanks to the help of the team. But when you have to go back to your ex for some of your things, some shit goes down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leonard “Bones” McCoy x Reader
> 
> Key: Y/N = Your Name, L/N = Your Last Name, H/C = Your Hair Color, E/C = Your Eye Color
> 
> Warnings: Talk of Abuse, Mentions of Abusive Ex, Cursing, Talk of Injuries

_His grip was tighter than you thought possible. The cuts were deep and your body screamed where he kept punching and kicking you. You couldn’t do anything. You were too weak to fight back or even try to call for help. But you tried._

_You managed to get one little squeak out of your vocal cords before they were clamped shut by the same grip that had your arm moments earlier. You clawed and struggled to breathe as you looked at the face of your ex looming over you. Whatever he was saying was muffled as everything became darker and darker._

You shot up out of bed and reached for your throat before jolting from the pains of the real cuts and bruises that littered your body. It was just a nightmare. At least that beating was. You looked at your alarm clock and read 7AM, only 15 minutes before you had to really get up. But there was no point in trying to go back to sleep, so you got up and tried to get ready for the day.

You went into your bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet and searched for a specific medicine, one that would help ease the pain even a little bit. You found a generic pain killer and took two before going to the kitchen and putting a bagel in the toaster.

“I guess I’ll be wearing long sleeves for awhile now.” You muttered to yourself as you found a suitable shirt to go along with some looser fitting pants and your boots. As you were finishing up lacing your boots, your communicator rang.

“(Y/L/N) speaking.”

“Mornin’, lass. You don’t have to come to the office first thing. I need you to get your tools and head to that troublesome pipe in the lower section. It’s goin’ haywire again. You know what to do.” You could hear him walking somewhere, probably another pipe. Usually went one went, another nearby would be next.

“Sounds good, Scotty. I’ll let you know when I finish up there. Stay safe.”

“You too, (Y/N).” And with that, your com clicked off. You gathered your tools in a bag, grabbed your bagel, and headed to the elevator to take you to the lower section. Hopefully the painkillers would kick in soon.

~~~~~~~~

It turned out that it wasn’t the pipe that was messed up, but one of the scanners that was connected to it. You hated scanners. They were more complicated to fix than they should be, but you had to do it. You were on com with Scotty and told him the problem.

“Try your best to get it back up and running. I’ll head over and help. See you in a few.” Scotty was better at this than you, but you did have to at least try.

You knew that you needed to cut a section off and replace it, but in order to do so, you had to use a very sharp knife. Pulling it from your bag, you got to work. You were weaker today thanks to the various injuries on your torso and arms. You tried to put more force into the knife but ended up slipping, hitting your shoulder against the wall, and dropping the knife. You had hit your shoulder right on a bruise and a nasty cut. _Just my fuckin luck._

The other tools fell to the floor as you somehow grabbed the knife from mid-air. You did however grab it by the blade side instead of the handle, which caused you to flinch and drop it again. You were leaning down to pick up your tools when you heard footsteps quickly coming down the hall and stopping in front of you. It was Scotty.

“(Y/N)! You okay, lassie?” You were going to respond when you saw his gaze go to your hand. You looked down and saw that you were bleeding, bad. The next thing you knew, you blacked out.

~~~~~~~~

The sterile white walls reflected the overhead light and caused you to squint your eyes as you woke up. You groaned in pain as you tried to sit up. You were up on your elbows when a pair of familiar hands where on your shoulders, helping you slowly get into a seated position.

“Hey! _Slowly_ , darlin’.” Your eyes adjusted to see the calming face of Leonard. Apparently Scotty had called for a med team to come and get you. “Didn’t know you were that queasy around blood, (Y/N).” He sort of joked as he handed you a cup of water.

“Yeah, I didn’t know either.” In all honesty, it was probably a mix of the pain from the injuries all over your body, the new one in your hand, and the sight of blood. Overstimulation.

“(Y/N), _what the hell happened_? Scotty said he didn’t see what happened, just the blood and you passing out.” You explain to him that you lost your grip on a piece of equipment, hit your shoulder really hard and dropped your knife tool. Not thinking too much, you reached to grab the falling knife and ended up grabbing it by the blade and sliced your hand open before dropping it again along with the rest of your tools.

“I didn’t know about your shoulder. Are you okay? Let me talk a look at it.” You flinched away from him when he reached out and almost touched you. You knew how bad the injuries from yesterday were, and you really didn’t want to worry him.

“It’s fine. I’m fine. It’s just a bruise probably. I really need to get back to work. Am I allowed to do that.”

“Yeah. I guess. Just be extra careful today. Don’t strain anything. If I hear from Scotty that you’re overworking yourself, I will personally walk my ass down there and _make_ you clock out early.” You knew he was serious, so you just nodded and turned to leave.

He grabbed your uninjured hand and turned you to face him again. “Hey. I love you, darlin’. You know I’m just worried about you.”

He really was, and you knew that. You knew that he would never hurt you in any way. You nodded your head and pulled him down into a kiss. It wasn’t long, but it wasn’t short either. It was just enough of everything to be reassuring to both of you and make you both forget about the world for a moment. When you pulled away, you rested your forehead against his.

“I know you are just looking out for me. And you know how much I love and appreciate you for it. I will try my best to be safe.” He kissed you once more, this one a bit quicker than the last before letting you go.

As you were heading out, he called out to you. “(Y/N)! Dinner. 6 o’clock. My place.” You smiled a big, true smile, before nodding and heading back to work.

Later on, you finally finish work even though Scotty made it almost impossible for you to do anything. He was too worried about you injuring yourself more. You were more of his assistant that his equal after this injury. But you knew it was just temporary.

~~~~~~~~

It was 5:30PM. Finally time to clock out. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t exhausted. You ended up overworking yourself a bit, like usual, but Scotty didn’t notice.

You had just enough time to head back to your room, drop off your stuff and change before meeting Leonard for dinner. So you said your goodbyes to Scotty and took the lift to your floor. Once there, you carefully stripped out of your uniform and put on a dress you had recently bought. It would me a nice surprise for Lee. You looked in the mirror and saw the nasty bruises that covered your upper arms. Sighing, you reached for a cardigan.

“I can at least push the sleeves up to my elbows and say these bruises are from work.” You thought out loud as you fixed yourself. You looked at your watch and saw it was 5:50. Time to head to Lee’s.

~~~~~~~~

Dinner was fantastic, as usual. Not many people knew how great of a cook Leonard was. All they saw was a sarcastic asshole with a short fuse. But you knew him better than anyone.

The two of you talked about having you spend the night. And while you were worried about him seeing your injuries, you agreed. You could just wear one of his long sleeved shirts and your sweatpants that you left here. After your discussion, you got up and tried to help with the dishes afterwards but got a look from Leonard.

“(Y/N)? What are you doing? Go sit down and relax.” He had a smile on his face. He truly loved being with you alone and just living outside of the medbay.

“I am helping you with the dishes, even if all I can do is dry them.” You picked up a plate and tried to dry it when his hand found yours. You looked up and met his eyes.

“(Y/N). Go relax. Or am I gonna have to pick you up and make you go sit down?” The thought of him picking you up hurt. It would definitely push on all the wrong spots. So you gave in, but tried to be playful about it.

“Fine. I’m going to go shower then. I feel disgusting after work today.” He smiled in response and leaned down to kiss you. He put an arm around your waist and felt you tense up. He instantly pulled back and was worried.

“What happened? You okay?” He held onto the tops of your arms, getting another flinch out of you. He quickly pulled his hands off and got even more worried.

“I’m fine! Sorry. I just am really sore after today and yesterday. Lots of heavy lifting and muscle work. I guess my body isn’t used to it quite yet.” You put your hand on his cheek and kissed him once more. “I think a shower may help. Movie after I get out?”

He just nodded his head yes as he carefully looked over you, obviously still worried. You smiled at him and tried to give him a reassuring gaze before turning and heading to the shower. Time to tackle _this_ obstacle.

You’re thankful that the water doesn’t hurt as bad as it did yesterday when the cuts were fresh. That being said, it still hurt like a bitch. You did your best to stay quiet, but when you moved your arm to try to rinse your hair, it must have reopened a wound. There was a sudden intense pain that shot through your entire arm and torso, causing you let out a sharp yelp. You covered your mouth, as if that was going to somehow erase the noise and prevent you from audibly crying cause of the continuing pain.

You knew the Lee most likely heard, and your thought was right. Within seconds of your yelp, there was a knock at the bathroom door.

“Darlin’? You okay? I heard something.” You had to try to steady your breathing enough to respond.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Just sore-” You were going to continue but stopped because your voice cracked. You knew what was going to happen next. _Time for him to find out what’s actually going on._

As soon as Leonard heard your voice waiver, he opened the door. He hasn’t come in the shower yet, and can’t see you thanks to the opaque shower door. You’ve seen each other naked before, and you were comfortable around each other. You tried to talk again.

“Lee, I’m okay. I am. Just go back to whatever you were doing.” He knew something was wrong and he couldn’t let it pass by. You voice had cracked again and he could tell you weren’t okay, no matter how many times you said you were.

You heard him undressing and got so scared. _What was he going to say about the cuts and bruises? He was going to get mad. Its Len we’re talking about, he has a short temper. Just breathe. Maybe he won’t be mad. But what if?_

The shower door opened and closed quickly so the cold air wouldn’t get in. You prepared yourself for his shouting. But instead there was silence.

You were facing away from him, trying your hardest not to cry loudly. Because you were facing the other way, you didn’t see his face. It was one of pure worry and fear. He saw a massive series of bruised that trailed from your upper arms to your ribs and stomach. There were tiny cuts in various spots, but then there was one massive one trailing from your left shoulder, all the way down to the middle of your back. It needed the most attention out of all of the injuries.

He gently inspected the wounds. Once he finished looking at your back, he turned you around, looked over you for a few seconds, trying to see the severity of the cuts and bruising. You just cried. You lost it.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Lee. I just… I–” He gently pulled you into his arms and _very lightly_ ran his fingertips up and down your back.

“Shhh. It’s alright, darlin’. You had your reasons. Just focus on breathing right now. We’ll get you patched up. You’re safe.”

It had to have been a good 20 minutes before you could stop crying. Leonard helped you get the last of the conditioner out of your hair, being gentler than you thought possible.

“I gotta clean out these cuts, okay? It’s gonna hurt a bit.” You just nodded your head up and down, too tired to talk any right now. He started to wash out the big cut down your spine.

To say it hurt, was an understatement. As soon as he touched the wound, you grabbed for his hand without thinking too much. He held your hand in one hand while he continued to clean all of your injuries. He felt you squeezing his hand and felt bad for having to make you hurt more than you already did.

“I know. I’m sorry, darlin’. I’m trying to be quick with this. You’re doing good.” You couldn’t help the tears that flowed out of your eyes. They were because of the pain, and Leonard knew that.

It took about 5 minutes of cleaning and re-inspecting until he turned off the water and grabbed your towel, helping you wrap in around yourself. Then he grabbed his own and went to go get your pajamas. He came back less than a minute later with a pair of his sweatpants and a long sleeve, saything that they were bigger and would be roomier. You gladly took them and had him help you get dressed.

He quickly put some sleep pants on before helping you into bed. He sat you down and kneeled in front of you and took your hands in his. He could feel you shaking and it broke his heart.

“I’m going to have to close that nasty one on your back. If I don’t, it’s going to keep ripping and get even worse. I know it’s gonna hurt, but I gotta do it, darlin’.” He looked at you with a protective gaze. You knew he was right.

“Okay.” You managed to say, even though it came out very hoarse and quiet. He gave your hands a squeeze and kissed your head as he went into the other room.

Leonard had a feeling he knew what caused these injuries. He knew it wasn’t work. Scotty would never put you in something intensely dangerous. He pulled out his comm and made sure he was out of earshot and even then whispered.

“James. I need you to look into Tim. I have a feeling he lashed out again.” his voice was protective and angry.

“How do you–” James tried to ask, but was cut off by Leonard’s anger.

“(Y/N) is with me, covered in not only bruises, but cuts too. One big enough that I now have to stitch her up. So go get your ass along with two security officers down to that room and bust his sorry ass. Make sure he is thankful that he’s dealing with you three and not me.” James had seen Leonard angry, but this is a new form of anger. He knew better than to mess with it.

“Alright. I will let you know when he’s taken care of.” Leonard didn’t say anything else, just hung up. He took a couple seconds to gather himself and grab the first aid kit before heading back to you.

You had somehow gotten yourself to lay on your side, knowing that your back would need to be exposed for him to work. He came up beside you and put a hand on your waist.

“I’m gonna need to you lay on your stomach. Can you do that?” You nodded your head and slowly shifted yourself and the pillows so you were comfortable but did what he needed. He pulled the shirt up and had you hold it so he could have a clear space. He kept you informed as to what he was doing and when. He knew that comforted you whenever you had to get any sort of medical exam done.

He finished stitching the cut on your back, but now needed to take care of the part that was on your shoulder. To do so, he had to help you sit up and take the shirt mostly off. Enough so he could get to the gash. Now that he was in front of you instead of behind, you decided to tell him what happened.

“Lee?” Your voice was a only a bit louder than a whisper.

“Mhmm?” He was in full doctor mode. Focused on properly stitching the last of the cut.

“None of these are from work.”

“Well I should hope not. If they were, Scotty would be in a coma right now.” He smiled to let you know he was joking, you gave a small smile in return but then faltered when you thought about what you were going to tell him. But before you could say much, he cut you off.

“I know these are from Tim.” You just looked at him in shock and confusion.

“How?” He sighed before talking while stitching.

“When we first met, it was right after one of his beatings. Scotty brought you in and I helped you heal from those. These are similar to the past ones, but with the addition of the cuts. The bruising is the same though. And the only person who would try to take you down like this is that fuckin asshat.” 

You both just sat there in silence for a few moments. He finished stitching and was putting a sort of gel over the stitches that was supposed to help it heal faster. You decided to speak up.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I thought you would be upset.” Now it was his turn to be confused.

“I thought you would be upset that I wasn’t strong enough to handle him or that I didn’t tell you or James or even Scotty about going to face him. I thought I was strong enough but I was just stupid and I should have–” You couldn’t get anything else out because you were forced into a kiss. Leonard knew that this was one of the sure fire ways of getting you to stop talking. When he pulled away, he looked at you with nothing but love.

“(Y/N). I could never be upset at you. You _are_ strong. Maybe not as _physically_ strong as some people, but you have grown and gotten so much better since the moment I met you. Yes, I think you should have told one of us what was going on. But I also understand why you didn’t.”

You started crying again. But this time, they were happy tears. You were so thankful to have someone like Leonard in your life. He was everything you dreamed of and more. He moved his hands to your cheeks and tried his best to wipe away the tears.

“Darlin’, why are you crying? You’re gonna make me cry.” This got a laugh out of you, and he chuckled too but you could see him actually getting a bit teary eyed.

“That would be a sight to see.” He looked down, but you brought his gaze back up and kissed him again. This time with more everything. You both got lost in your own world until you tried to lay down and pull him with you. This caused another sharp pain to rip through your body. He instantly got up and went to get some sort of injection.

“This’ll help.” It was supposed to be a pain killer mixed with a small sleep aid. “As much as I’d love to keep going, you need to rest and heal. I’ll be here with you though. Every step of the way.” He paused before adding something else. “And I want you to stay here until you get back to a normal working ability.” You smirked at him.

“Are you sure it’s to keep an eye on me or is it for personal benefits?” He settled in bed next to you and put his arm around you while you cuddled up next to him.

“Maybe a bit of both.” You felt his chuckle rumble through his chest as you playfully hit him. He just leaned down and kissed the top of your head.

“Get some rest, darlin’. You’re in better hands now.”

You settled yourself against his chest and felt the medicine kicking in as your eyes grew heavier and heavier. You were out within minutes, Leonard wasn’t too far from sleep himself. He took one more look at you, making sure your were comfortable before he kissed your forehead and relaxed.


	3. "Better Hands" - Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being in an abusive relationship, you have been able to turn your life around thanks to the help of the team. But when you have to go back to your ex for some of your things, some shit goes down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leonard “Bones” McCoy x Reader
> 
> Key: Y/N = Your Name, L/N = Your Last Name, H/C = Your Hair Color, E/C = Your Eye Color
> 
> Warnings: Talk of Abuse, Mentions of Abusive Ex, Cursing, Talk of Injuries,

Waking up in bed with Leonard always made you smile. You weren’t a morning person, but if you woke up to the love of your life every morning, you could start to really enjoy them. His warmth, his protective, comforting hold on you, even his voice before bed or when just waking up. You loved everything about it. But something was off this morning.

You were laying on your side and he was behind you with his hand gently on your hip instead of tightly wrapped around you. You realized that it was probably because he was worried about putting too much pressure on your wounds. Thank god he let you take some sort of sedative to help you sleep through the pain. There was no way you could have slept well without it last night; the pain from the bruises and cuts plus the new stitches made it difficult to get comfy.

Intertwining your fingers with his, he started to stir awake. You tried to turn around to face him, but instead flinched from a sharp pain in your shoulder. As soon as he heard you hiss in pain, Leonard was sitting up and worried. You tried to lay on your back, to just grab his hand, and tell him that you were fine.

“It’s okay. I’m okay. Just kind of forgot about everything. I wanted to see your face.” You managed to chuckle and smile through the pain. Leonard chuckled along with you before kissing you softly as if he was afraid of hurting you more. He pulls away, but you pout playfully. Leonard gives you a confused look.

“What’s wrong, darlin’?”

“What the hell was that ?” He looks at you with a growing smile, he starts to lean down while you rest your hand at the base of his neck and run your fingers through his hair. The kiss becomes a bit more heated and you both forget about your injuries for a minute. It wasn’t until Leonard tried to snake his hand around your back that you were reminded. His hand had hit a sensitive bruise on the back of your ribs, causing you to arch away from his touch and quickly pull away from his lips. Leonard started to apologize.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart! I guess I got lost in the moment. I–” You cut him off with another short kiss before pulling back and responding.

“It’s fine. I’m fine. I’ll survive.” You tried your best to smile. He looks at you like he didn’t believe you 100%.

“I know you will survive. You’re a fighter.” He kisses you one more time before getting up from the bed. “Now, you stay there. I’m gonna make us some breakfast and bring it back in here.” You start to shift yourself to an upright position when Leonard turns around in the doorway and points his finger “I mean it, (Y/N). Stay.”

But of course you don’t listen.

You got up to go to the bathroom. After relieving yourself, you wash your hands and try to tame your lion’s mane of hair. After a couple minutes of finagling, you end up just throwing it into a ponytail. While looking in the mirror, you decide to slip off your shirt and see the stitches. The only other time you had gotten stitches was when you sliced your hand open yesterday. But this one was way worse. The trail started by your left collar bone and traveled across your left shoulder blade and down a part of your back. You tried to remember how this even happened.

_You didn’t even care about your stuff anymore. You just needed to run away. You were headed to the door when you felt his grip on your shoulder. His grip slipped and his nails clawed down your shoulder and back before he regained his grip and threw you to the ground._

You shook your head and tried to forget about it all. Everything was such a painful blur, you weren’t even sure if that was what happened. All you know is that Tim beat you again, he is the cause of these injuries, and it was over.

Slipping your shirt back on, you felt another twinge of pain. _Hopefully Leonard will have some medicine for me or else this healing process is gonna be fuckin hell._

Somehow you made it to the kitchen. You found that you had a sort of limp. Leonard was making pancakes because he knew they were your favorite. You lean against the wall to get rid of some of the pressure on your leg. Your side began to hurt, so you rested your hand against it in an effort to soothe it.

“Hey, so what painkillers can I take?” Bones just about jumped out of his skin. He apparently didn’t hear you coming into the kitchen. He takes the pan off the burner and turns to look at you, worry and a little bit of annoyance instantly filling his face.

“What the hell are you doing out of bed, darlin’? You should be resting ” You didn’t even need to say anything. You just gave him a look that said “ _Really? You had to know that wasn’t gonna stick._ ” He just sighed and walked past you to his medicine cabinet to pull out a specific bottle. He gives them to you and you try to read the name. It was some long, complex, scientific name.

“When do I take these and how many?”

“Twice a day _with food_. I recommend two with breakfast and two with dinner.” You just nod and try to make your way to the table. Leonard notices your limp right away and has you take his arm. He helps you get comfortable in the chair before going back to the kitchen. He comes back a minute later with a cup of your favorite tea, just how you like it.

Only a few minutes after that, Leonard comes back with two plates of pancakes and a couple strips of bacon. You two eat and chat like normal. You almost forget about your cuts and bruises until Leonard mentions them.

“I don’t want you going into work. Not until you heal more.” You tried to argue but he was firm. He really didn’t want you to hurt yourself more. But you hated not working or doing anything.

Leonard’s communicator started chirping. He answered and you knew what would come next. He was either needed on the bridge or in the medbay when he was called this early.

“I gotta go to the medbay. Apparently there aren’t a lot of staff there yet and some guy just came in and needs stitches. I’ll be back later okay?”

“So I’m not allowed to go back to my place?”

“You can go back there once you heal more. But I want you to stay here so I can watch over you and be there if anything happens that needs immediate attention.” You just nod as he comes around and kisses your forehead. “So I will see you later. You stay here and rest. If you need anything, I’m a call away.”

“Be safe out there.” You call out as he heads out the door. He turns around and calls back.

“I always am!” Flashing that swoon worthy smile before rushing to the medbay.

You knew he wanted you to just lay around and rest. But you just couldn’t do nothing. You had to get up and move. You finish your breakfast and then make your way to your room to change into your uniform and grab your tools.

Like hell you weren’t going to work.

~~~~~~~~

Leonard clocked in and met with one of the nurses that was working. She told him that there was a man in exam room 3 who might need stitches. Leonard opened the door, found the patient’s info on his data pad and froze. _Tim Daniels. (Y/N)’s ex._ He looked up from the data pad and saw the idiot on the biobed. Leonard tried his best to keep a neutral tone while he stepped into the hallway and called Jim.

“Kirk here.”

“Jim, get your ass to the medbay. Tim is here. And if I go back in there, I may just punch the living daylights out of him.”

“I’m on my way with two other guards.”

It only took a few minutes for Jim to come through the sliding doors of the medbay with two strong security guards. They found Leonard in front of an exam room with his arms crossed. The four of them didn’t even need to talk, they all just walked into the room. Tim straightened up and spoke when he saw the captain and the guards.

“Capatin. What the hell is going on?”

“We know about what happened to (Y/N). And we know it was you.” Before Tim could say anything, Leonard spoke.

“She went to your quarters to get the last of her things, and you lost control.” Leonard was fighting the urge to take the needle and poke his eye out. But instead, he started to stitch up Tim’s hand.

“What the hell are you talking about.” Tim really was trying to play innocent. Jim was going to say something authoritative, but Leonard beat him to it. Somehow he kept his hands steady and continued to sew the curved mark on his hand together, but his voice was threatening and full of fury.

“Do not play dumb with me right now, boy. (Y/N) has bruises all over her body. She has cuts all over. And she has one cut in particular that I had to stitch up last night. She told me everything. So you are lucky that I called those three in here, or else I’m sure you would be needing more than stitches.” The entire room went silent.

Leonard didn’t look up once, focusing on finishing the stitches. But if he did look up, he would have seen Tim working something out in his head. There was only a minute of silence until Tim spoke up.

“ _Oh._ So _you’re_ the doctor boyfriend that (Y/N) mentioned among her other fuckin successes.” No response from Leonard. Only a couple more stitches to go. But then Tim kept talking. “You know this is cause of her, right? That fucking _bitch_ bit me. She bit me and kicked me in the crotch. Who the fuck does that?” Bones stopped stitching and just tied the thread off before stepping away to the other side of the room to input something in the data pad.

“He’s good to go.” Leonard was directing his statement to Jim, who signaled for the guards to take him. But of course, Tim had to get one more punch in.

“You know, she talked about how much better she was doing. How you were helping her get her life together. But as soon as I grabbed her, she turned back into that weak little priss.” Tim had a smile on his face, enough to throw Leonard overboard. Jim knew what was coming and gave a look to the guards. They tightened their grasps on Tim’s arms as Leonard made his way quickly to him.

Leonard didn’t fight often, but when he did, he didn’t hold back. This was one of those times. It was only one quick punch, but a solid one, right to Tim’s face. Before letting him go, Leonard grabbed Tim’s face and looked him right in the eye with a gaze of pure hatred.

“If I hear you say anything else about (Y/N) or if you come near her or if you have _any_ communication with her, this punch will feel like nothing compared to the hell I will rain down on you. You got that?”

Tim nodded his head furiously, obviously scared. No one had ever actually landed a hit on him. Leonard let’s go and looks at Jim. Jim has a look on his face that consisted of a bit of shock and fear. He had seen “protective Bones”, but this was a whole new level.

The guards walked out of the examination room with Tim, but Jim held back for a second. He put a hand on Leonard’s shoulder.

“He won’t have any chance of getting near (Y/N) anymore. I’m sending him back to shore and requesting to have him reassigned to a different ship. But he may not even be let back on a ship after I tell them the damage he’s caused. We got him, Bones.” Leonard just nodded and leaned against the counter.

Jim started to head out to catch up with the officers, but he turned around to leave one more comment. 

“And Bones? Nice punch.” Both men chuckle a bit at that.

Bones realizes that he has been so busy with this shit that he forgot to call Scotty and tell him that you were going to have to take a week or two off of work. He made his way to his office and sat down in his chair, finally able to breathe after dealing with that asshole. He pulled out his communicator and rang Scotty.

“Scotty here.”

“Hey, its McCoy. I just wanted to let you know that (Y/N) won’t be reporting for a week or two cause of her injuries.” There was a moment of silence on Scotty’s end until he spoke up, confused.

“What are you talking about? Her hand isn’t that bad. She came in an hour or so ago and has been helping me in one of the tubes.”

Bones went silent. He tried to breathe and not get upset, but he couldn’t help the annoyance and anger that was growing.

“What do you mean she's working?”

“She came in and reported for work. I saw that her hand was still wrapped up, so I told her we would be working together since she isn’t back to normal. I left her for a few minutes to try to finish a bad sensor while I ran back to grab a tool I forgot.” Bones sighed and groaned in annoyance. “Is there something else wrong with her that you two aren’t tellin’ me, McCoy?”

“(Y/N) has more injuries than her hand. Just- What tube is she in?”

“F-24. I’m about halfway back to her now.” Scotty knew something wasn’t right, so now he started running back to the tube.

“I’m on my way. Do _not_ let her leave.” He closed his communicator and grabbed a medical kit. Knowing you, you probably already overworked yourself but haven’t noticed it yet. Leonard ran to the lift and took it down to the tubes.

“Dammit, (Y/N). You better be alive and in one piece.”


	4. "Better Hands" - Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being in an abusive relationship, you have been able to turn your life around thanks to the help of the team. But when you have to go back to your ex for some of your things, some shit goes down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leonard “Bones” McCoy x Reader
> 
> Key: Y/N = Your Name, L/N = Your Last Name, H/C = Your Hair Color, E/C = Your Eye Color
> 
> Warnings: Cursing, nothing else really. Please let me know if I missed anything

You reported to Scotty a little later than you thought, but you went to work nonetheless. Scotty was surprised to see you back so soon, but he didn’t see too much harm in it. The only injury he knew about what the one of your hand from yesterday’s accident with the knife. Even though he let you work, he wasn’t okay with giving you too much to do. He didn’t want to run the risk of you injuring yourself again while your hand was still wrapped up.

It was about halfway through the workday for you. You were in a Jefferies Tube working on a sensor. Scotty was going to help you out when he realized that he had forgotten one of his welding tools back in the workshop. You decided to just go ahead and work on it until he came back.

You were about to finish undoing the last bolt when your comm went off. You didn’t even look at who was calling, you just figured it was Scotty letting you know he was on his way back. Placing the comm in between your good shoulder and your ear, you answered while still focusing on the sensor.

“(Y/L/N) here.”

“Where the hell are you?!” Leonard wasn’t yelling, but his voice had an intensity that you hadn’t heard before. You knew he was upset. _Very_ upset.

“I uh… I–” Before you could come up with anything good to say, Leonard cut you off.

“I just called Scotty to let him know that you aren’t going to be reporting to him for at least a week because of injuries, and he tells me that you are there with him!”

“Scotty has been making sure I don’t do too much! And technically, he isn’t here right now. He went to–” You should have known better than to be a smartass. Leonard was even more annoyed.

“Grab a tool. I know. What _the hell_ are you thinking, going back to work? You could get worse!” You knew his heart was in the right place, but when he was angry, it was hurtful.

“I know. Look, I just… I couldn’t just sit around your room and do nothing! You know me! I need to be doing things and being productive!”

“Then we find something for you to do while you rest! Just…” He paused and you could hear him try to take a deep breath or two to try to calm down even a smidge. “Where are you right now?”

“Right now I’m in tube F-24. I’m trying to replace a fried sensor. I am fine–”

“That’s it. You are done for today.” You tried to interrupt and fight back a little, but then he pulled the doctor card out. “No, (Y/N). Doing what you do at work could cause you to accidentally stretch too much and mess something up. You could pop a stitch or slice your hand open again or–”

“ _Fine_! I’ll clock out _after_ I finish this sensor malfunction. Unless there is another hypothetically life threatening about doing this simple task that you need to point out.” You honestly couldn’t hide your frustration any longer. 

His end of the line went silent for a moment before clicking off. You knew he was upset, but this was new. You could only imagine the hell you’d be getting when you clocked out. As for now, there seemed to be no use in dwelling on it. You were going to fix this sensor, go shower and change back in your quarters, and then deal with Hurricane Leonard.

It had only been about 5 or so minutes and you were already almost done with this assignment. You were tightening a corner of the sensor when you felt a tapping on your shoulder. Scotty must have finally come back from getting his welding tool. How he forgot that tool out of all the possible tools he could forget was a mystery to you.

“It’s about time you came back, Scotty. I’m almost done with this corner. Then it should be only a few more minutes.” There were another couple of taps on your shoulder. “Jeez Scotty! I’m going as quick as I can! Calm the fuck down!”

“You snuck out to go work even though you are on medical leave, your shoulder is bleeding, and you want me to _calm down_?”

That was _not_ Scotty’s voice.

You turn around to see the very intense face of Leonard. You then looked at your shoulder and see a bit of blood seeping through your shirt. It wasn’t a lot of blood, but enough to make an already worried boyfriend even more worried. You apparently moved it wrong and popped a few stitches, but were too engrossed in your work to notice.

Scotty then rushed in. He stood next to Leonard and looked at you with a mixture of confusion and fear in his eyes.

“What the hell happened to ya, lassie? I thought it was just your hand!” You didn’t know how to respond. It’s like everything inside of you froze. Leonard sighs and then speaks up for you.

“In short, she tried to get her stuff back from Tim and he didn’t like it.” Scotty just looks at you questioningly, as if you ask if it was true. You nod your head and then turn around and lift your shirt to show him the stitches, cuts, and bruises. When you turn back around to face him, he looked heartbroken. You were like his little sister. To see you hurt this badly crushed him a little inside.

“If I would have known about this shite, I would have sent your ass back home.”

Bones shoots you a look that showed how scared he was but also said ‘I told you so.’ You now start to feel your shoulder hurting. Scotty takes your tools in one hand and grabs your hand with his other.

“(Y/N). I can’t have my best engineer working in an unstable state. You _need_ to go. You can come back as soon as Leonard gives an okay.” He saw some tears starting to form in your eyes. You really loved your work and you hated being in this situation. “Hey, come on now. This won’t be forever. I’m only doing this because I don’t want you to get hurt again. You’re a tough girl, but you’re not invincible. I can’t have you poppin’ stitches everyday.” You just give him a small smile as he kisses your forehead in a familial way. 

You try to stand up but feel a bit lightheaded, causing you to wobble and fall against the wall. And of course, you ended up hitting a bruise again. Yelping, you start to get tunnel vision. Before you could fall any further, Leonard’s hands were supporting you.

“Dammit, (Y/N/N)!” Leonard pulls his comm out of his pocket and calls for a wheelchair to be rushed to your location. It would have been easier to just pick you up, but it would also be very painful for you and could possibly put too much stress on your stitches.

The wheelchair doesn’t take long to get there. Leonard helps you in the chair and wheels you back to his quarters. Its eerily quiet. Leonard seems to be breathing deeply and trying his best to calm down so he doesn’t explode at you.

He helps you sit on the bed before he turns to his supply closet. He comes back with an assortment of bandages and disinfectants. But there was something else that caught your eye, something that made your heart race and your breathing struggled: _the dermal regenerator_.

You had a very bad experience with one of these a few years back. You had gotten hit in the leg during an away mission. You didn’t know the science behind what happened, but something in the machine reacted badly to whatever hit your leg and made everything malfunction. You still had a nasty scar on your leg because of it and avoided using the machine at all costs. And because of that experience, Leonard resorted to the old fashioned form of stitches for your latest injuries.

He helps you out of your work shirt and sees your eyes stuck on the small machine to his right. Leonard sighs before taking your hand and looking into your eyes.

“Sweetheart, I know you had a bad time with this before, but all of the kinks have been worked out. Nothing will happen like last time. I promise.” You couldn’t help but panic.

“But what if it’s not? What if it’s something wrong with me and not the machine? What if this specific machine messes up? What if–” Leonard put a hand on your cheek and made you really look at him now.

“If I’m wrong and something bad happens, I will let you punch me.” You look at him for a few seconds, processing what he said, and then spoke.

“I don’t punch hard though. It wouldn’t be rewarding.” He contemplated some other options. He thought of one and chuckled a bit. He knew you would go for this.

“What if Jim is the one who punches me? One time, I don’t fight back, _and_ you can record it.” You laughed at the thought of it. You couldn’t help but agree to those terms. “Alright, now that that is settled, I need you to turn around and let me get to work.”

He helped you turn around and get as comfortable as you could. He was going to let go of you, but you grabbed one of his hands. He sort of smiles and holds your hand. The dermal regenerator was small enough that he could hold it in one hand.

It took about 15 minutes of a monotonous whirring noise and a sort of warm feeling along the gashes until Leonard felt okay with the healing. He gave your hand a squeeze before he got up and got one of his sleep shirts for you.

As he did that, you went to the mirror and try to look at the skin on your back and shoulder to see if anything went wrong. You could barely tell anything had happened. There were no stitches or blood or marks. It was faintly red, but that would fade quickly. It was still very sore, but now it could heal even quicker. You stood and breathed a sigh of relief. Leonard came into the bathroom and puts his hands on your waist as he stands behind you, looking in the mirror.

“I told you it would be fine.” He had a smartass grin on his face.

You turn around to face him, your hands on his chest. He just leaned down and kissed your forehead before helping you into the shirt he picked out. Once you are comfortable, you walk forward and wrap your arms around his midsection, he gladly embraces you.

“Even though you are better than before thanks to the regenerator, you aren’t allowed back to work for a few days. Your muscles still need time to fully heal. I also want you to come by the Medbay. We never scanned to see if there was wrong internally. I don’t want to take any chances.”

You sigh a bit and look up at him. You are met with his gorgeous eyes that had the capability of melting your insides to mush.

“Can we do that tomorrow? I’m really hungry and tired.” Leonard laughed a bit at how innocent you sounded. Nodding, he agreed.

“Alright, sweetpea. We’ll go first thing in the morning. Right now, let’s get you some food.” You both smile at each other. Leonard then gently pulls you closer to him and presses a kiss against your lips, which you happily kiss back.


End file.
